Welcome

Welcome to the International Center for Service-Learning in Teacher Education!

The International Center will serve as a focal point for teacher educators in higher education and their community partners in all aspects of service-learning in teacher education; including research, information resources, professional development and collaboration.

Service-learning prepares teachers and teacher candidates to engage students as active, lifelong learners who develop an ethic of care and a sense of responsibility to their communities. Service-learning can help teachers enrich learning and promote healthy development for an increasingly diverse student population and can help deal with problems related to motivation, behavior and school attendance. It is in these areas that service-learning can make a vital contribution to democratic reforms, citizen participation, volunteerism and social justice in the United States as well as in many other countries of the world.

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Our Origins

How We Came To Be

In 1997, the Corporation for National Service awarded two significant teacher education grants, one to the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE) and one to Dr. Rahima Wade of the University of Iowa. Both grants developed national partnerships that merged together in 2000 to form the current AACTE National Service-Learning in Teacher Education Partnership (NSLTEP). This group of national partners created the International Center for Service-Learning in Teacher Education in 2003. The vision of the Clemson University President, along with the collaboration of the Provost, the Vice President for Public Service and Agriculture, the National Dropout Prevention Center, the College of Health, Education, and Human Development, and the Eugene T. Moore School of Education has created a unique framework for the University to support the vision and goals of the International Center.

The International Center is committed to sharing experience, practice and findings on service-learning in teacher education with colleagues throughout the world. Educators in different countries have different perspectives about how to offer young people the chance to learn through active involvement with their school and wider communities. The International Center will provide a forum for this exchange and create opportunities to learn from each other as we develop these concepts in service-learning.

Our Goals

What We Intend to Do

The International Center collaborates with higher education institutions and pre-K-12 schools throughout the world to carry out the center’s goals and activities. These include the following:

• Improve the quality of teaching and learning by preparing teachers and school leaders to use effective service-learning methodologies.

• Promote excellence in service-learning by supporting, conducting, and disseminating current research on service-learning in teacher education

• Endorse active civic engagement and community participation within a democratic framework through the dynamics of service-learning.

• Develop and promote policies that support the implementation of effective service-learning guidelines in schools and colleges.

Our Vision

Three Major Aspects of our Vision

1. To build the moral and civic dispositions of educators
2. To prepare educators to use service-learning as pedagogy
3. To promote service-learning in pre K-12 schools.

FAQ

Find out evertyhing that you'd want to know about service learning, and service-learning teacher education with our Freuqently Asked Questions page.
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News & Developments

Our New Site

Welcome to the new edition of our web site. You’ll find lots of new features and a new look, but much of the content remains in the same place where you’ve been accessing it for years. We’re excited about our new look and if you have any feedback, please feel free to let us know.

New Online Discussion Group on Service-learning in Teacher Education

The International Center for Service-Learning in Teacher Education (ICSLTE) has established a new online discussion group (listserv).

The purpose of the listserv is allow teacher educators an opportunity to share syllabi and new ideas for research. In addition, the resource will afford you the opportunity to ask questions and discuss current issues with others in the field.

If you would like to be added to this new listserv and interact with teacher education colleagues from all over the world, contact Lorilei Swanson, graduate assistant of the ICSLTE, at loris@clemson.edu.